He does not seem to be overly bright and is easily distracted and amused by such things as pigeons, such as in the episode Banned on the Run. He is said to let anyone build a museum in the city (examples would be the ancient trash museum). To make certain he says the right thing, he generally only speaks when reading from pre-written index cards, but even then he can make mistakes--such as the time when he was opening the city's new library and was accidentally reading the card for the opening of a new swimming pool. Or when his card was upside down in "The Invisi-Bill Hand" and said WordGirl's name as "ljigpjom". His assistant is frequently with him to help keep him on track.

Despite his many shortcomings, he seems to be capable of reacting quickly in stressful situations. In Questionable Behavior, when Ms. Question tried to coerce WordGirl into revealing her secret identity, the Mayor intervened twice, giving WordGirl time to recover from the spell. This included publicly confessing his own secret he had been forced to tell Ms. Question (that he sleeps at night with his teddy bear Rex), thus releasing him (and the city) from Ms. Question's grip.

His position is frequently in danger as Mr. Big tries to either steal it or win it by illicit means.